The impact of education on marital fertility: a case study of Zanzibar rural and urban

This study examines the effect of education of parents on marital fertility (measured in children ever born) through some of the proximate determinants of fertility which are regarded as most important in Africa. These include age at marriage, postpartum variables and modern contraceptives. The objective (s) is to ascertain the correlations and degrees of associations between the variables used in the study and the magnitude and impact of the proximate determinants on fertility. The data for the study were taken from house hold survey by way of administering a questionnaire. Married women in the childbearing ages (15-49 years) with at least one live birth and married men of age 18 and above were interviewed. 398 and 869 households were covered in the urban and rural areas respectively. Both univariate and multivariate techniques were employed during data analysis. The results of the study revealed a negative but weak association between education level of both mother and father with fertility in both urban and rural areas. Father's association was relatively weaker than mother's. Fertility was slightly higher in the urban areas than rural areas because of shorter amenorrheic periods coupled with generally law levels of contraception. It was also revealed that age at marriage increased with increased level of education and hence having a negative impact on fertility. There was no significant evidence to show that education has erosive effect on the postpartum variables though, as mentioned earlier, women in the no education category in the urban and rural areas had larger duration of amenorrhea than the rest. Use of modern contraceptives did not show any consistent pattern but women with secondary education and above consisted of the greater proportion of the few users whose impact and fertility was statistically insignificant. Policy recommendations given in line with the findings include strict government follow up to ensure that bath girls and bays attend school up to secondary level as it is provided freely, introduction of family-life education in the school curriculum, improving family planning services in MCH centers, and expansion of employment opportunities for women.